No, as much as. As in a dog can retroactively remember the actions of another to solve a problem. Doing it right away is imitation, doing it after the fact is a kind of problem solving.//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

No, as much as. As in a dog can retroactively remember the actions of another to solve a problem. Doing it right away is imitation, doing it after the fact is a kind of problem solving.//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I don't think I've ever had a dog that understood pointing, and I've had quite a few.

Most of them seem to eventually get that it means "I should be looking around for something" and will often accidentally find what I'm pointing at, but it's not like they look there in particular.

No, as much as. As in a dog can retroactively remember the actions of another to solve a problem. Doing it right away is imitation, doing it after the fact is a kind of problem solving.//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I don't think I've ever had a dog that understood pointing, and I've had quite a few.

Most of them seem to eventually get that it means "I should be looking around for something" and will often accidentally find what I'm pointing at, but it's not like they look there in particular.

I spent 20 minutes last night trying to get my sister's dog to howl at the full moon with me and he couldn't figure it out. I know the dumbass can howl because he does it all the time when he wants something, but apparently pack behavior has been bred straight out of corgis.

No, as much as. As in a dog can retroactively remember the actions of another to solve a problem. Doing it right away is imitation, doing it after the fact is a kind of problem solving.//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I don't think I've ever had a dog that understood pointing, and I've had quite a few.

Most of them seem to eventually get that it means "I should be looking around for something" and will often accidentally find what I'm pointing at, but it's not like they look there in particular.

One of my dogs can differentiate between multiple toys (e.g. Ball, Chicken, Frog). When pointing and asking her to get a specific one she'll actively look for that specific toy in that direction/area . Well so long as she isn't distracted...

I agree with you though; If I use a noun she doesn't know she'll either run in the direction I pointed and bring me back whatever she deems appropriate or she gets distracted...

As a puppy one of our Standard poodles, Bandy, watched us open doors. As soon as she was tall enough, she started opening them, too. She can manipulate any shape of knob, though obviously the lever ones are easiest for her. She's also learned how to work a deadbolt, and even how to turn a key left in a lock. At my sister's house one Christmas she drove everyone into fights because no one believed that she was the one leaving doors open, and not various people being careless. It took several instances of watching her open doors for the fights to stop. Once the door is open, she looks to see if anything interesting is happening. If it isn't, she leaves the room alone. Of course, this means that anything else that wondered what was behind the doors can now get in there, but that's not her problem.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy:I spent 20 minutes last night trying to get my sister's dog to howl at the full moon with me and he couldn't figure it out. I know the dumbass can howl because he does it all the time when he wants something, but apparently pack behavior has been bred straight out of corgis.

Dumbest dog I know is a Basenji/Chihuahua mix closely followed by a Lhasa Apso/Toy poodle mix.

No, as much as. As in a dog can retroactively remember the actions of another to solve a problem. Doing it right away is imitation, doing it after the fact is a kind of problem solving.//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I don't think I've ever had a dog that understood pointing, and I've had quite a few.

Most of them seem to eventually get that it means "I should be looking around for something" and will often accidentally find what I'm pointing at, but it's not like they look there in particular.

That's better than any cat I've had.

/Anecdotal but consistent in my world...

Just because they're capable of understanding doesn't mean they do understand. Also your dogs sound yappy.

Ugh, chihuahuas make my blood boil. Every single one I've known has been both stupid, and mindlessly hyper-aggressive as though trying to compensate for its obvious harmlessness. It's like if North Korea was a breed of dog.

I get sick fantasies about kicking field goals with every chihuahua I see.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy:I spent 20 minutes last night trying to get my sister's dog to howl at the full moon with me and he couldn't figure it out. I know the dumbass can howl because he does it all the time when he wants something, but apparently pack behavior has been bred straight out of corgis.

Nine minutes ago, my master left the house. I fear he will be gone for the remainder of my life.

After watching him ferociously paw at this brightly lit contraption, I was able to ascertain he uses it to communicate with others, perhaps many others. I literally have only moments left before I will forget what I've learned by watching him use this thing, so I must act quickly.

Please, Chinese people of the world, bring me your Sesame Chickens, I require many, for in my master's permanent absence, I will starve. There is only a few days of food left here. I know where he keeps the money, I can give you lots of that.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy:I spent 20 minutes last night trying to get my sister's dog to howl at the full moon with me and he couldn't figure it out. I know the dumbass can howl because he does it all the time when he wants something, but apparently pack behavior has been bred straight out of corgis.

I needed the assistance of the monthly Tornado warning siren test to teach my Corgi how to howl on command (every first Wednesday of the month the old duck and cover sirens go off.) He hows like crazy at that so it was easy for me to associate the command "howl" with the action.

//dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

Dogs also exhibit a leftward bias when looking at human faces, since your emotions tend to display more clearly on the right side of your face compared to the left side. Humans do this when looking at human faces. No other animal does this with humans, or other members of their species for that matter. Dogs only do it when looking at humans, too, but not each other.

ikanreed://dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I was at my sister's house the other day, they have a few pigs so I starting throwing apples into the pen expecting the dog like reaction of tracking my hand during the throw or pointing to an apple and nothing. Their dog comes over I point at an apple and said 'get the ball' and sure enough it grabs it and hands it to me as if playing fetch. A clear demonstration of the social intelligence of dogs and future-bacon's lack there of.

The headline isn't saying "your dog can learn to copy you in 10 minutes." It- and the article- are saying that dogs are capable of remembering and copying your actions even after a delay of up to ten minutes between your demonstrating the act, and asking the dog to repeat it.

Ergo, dogs have a sort of long-term memory previously believed to have belonged only to humans and apes. I'm being imprecise but that's close enough to clear up the headline confusion.

Lt_Ryan:ikanreed: //dogs are also one of the only species capable of understanding pointing.

I was at my sister's house the other day, they have a few pigs so I starting throwing apples into the pen expecting the dog like reaction of tracking my hand during the throw or pointing to an apple and nothing. Their dog comes over I point at an apple and said 'get the ball' and sure enough it grabs it and hands it to me as if playing fetch. A clear demonstration of the social intelligence of dogs and future-bacon's lack there of.

I love future bacon.

/so does my dog//she got 3/4 of a pound of bacon for breakfast on her first birthday last week///she said I could have the other 1/4 pound////also got ice cream at the dog park and steak for dinner//just returned to normal poop today//slashie obsession

Abner Doon:I don't think I've ever had a dog that understood pointing, and I've had quite a few.

I would have agreed with you, until my current dog, who is weirdly good at it. I have to make a dramatic gesture and unfurl my arm in a full point, but then his eyes track my arm out past the point of my finger.

You can practically see the wheels turning in his head. Arm... finger... nothing... nothing... empty space... HOLY SHIAT IT'S MY DOG BED I COULD TOTALLY FARKING GO LIE DOWN ON THAT RIGHT NOW GOOD JOB HUMAN.

It works with food, squirrels, the cat (I've taught him to annoy the cat because why should I do all the work), pretty much anything in his environment he knows how to interact with. So I guess he gets pointing. But he pretty much taught himself--I think as a rule most dogs aren't very good at it.

Dogs raised by humans also imitate human expressions from habit, so they're pretty adaptable down to a fairly low level. Ever seen a dog grin? Stray dogs don't do that, they have their own basic expressions for contentment and so on.

It's part of the illusion of personhood that can make them such good pets. They're basically permanently the equivalent of a human five-year-old as adult canines, where they have some approximation of human expression but it's not quite there, their needs are compatible with humans' but very basic by our standards, and they kind of comprehend the language but not really. Basically, we find them cute like a small child, even when (also like a small child) they're destroying shiat inadvertently.